Along the lines of Susan's post:
My mother smoked a pack of cigarettes a day from the time she was 12 years
old until she died last June at age 85.  She nursed 3 of her 4 kids.  I was
the youngest and a number of years younger than my next sibling so I always
assumed that I was the one who was not breastfed.  About 10 years ago she
told me that it was her 3rd child that wasn't breastfed.  She said that the
3 of them were all 18 months apart and she was very skinny from all the
pregnancies, breastfeeding in close succession so her doctor advised her
not to breastfeed and she listened.  She said that my sister was very
small, a poor eater and had health issues throughout her childhood.
Nothing serious, just one thing after another.  So when I came along, she
wasn't going to make that mistake again and nursed me!  We just found a
photo of me with her on a beach, I was about 8 months old and you can
clearly see the cigarette in her hand.  She also had a Bloody Mary or a
Martini every night with dinner.  Pregnancy, nursing, illnesses never
stopped her!  It was just the way things were at that time.  Is it ideal?
No.  Is it better than not nursing? Yes.

I am often surprised that my siblings and I all survived childhood.  I also
slept with my babies in a waterbed (in the 70's and 80's), had bumpers in
their cribs, didn't strap them in their strollers or carriages, and, though
I used a car seat, many of my friends didn't.  I am constantly grateful
that my kids all survived.

As for alcohol and breastfeeding, I agree that the parenting issues are far
more important that worrying about the minimum amount of alcohol that is in
the breastmilk.  But I actually posted this for entertainment value only. I
sometimes worry that we take ourselves so seriously.  Rules and
restrictions about breastfeeding are often the biggest stumbling block to
getting started.  I think the benefits of breastfeeding outweigh the risks
if a mom has an occasional drink or even tobacco.

Having worked for WIC for many years and having many young women come to me
and ask, honestly, what to do about the various "bad" things they did where
breastfeeding was concerned.  We often worked out a schedule of pumping and
saving milk for the "event" and then pumping and discarding after.  (I'm
not talking about a glass or 2 of an alcoholic substance!)   It would be a
shame for some of these moms not to consider breastfeeding (they often
breastfed for a year or 2) because they were going out one night for
graduation, or New Year's Eve or a birthday, and they knew they wanted to
misbehave.  The most important conversation I had with these moms was about
who was going to care for their baby during that time.

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanza or happy
whatever-holiday-you-celebrate.

-- 
*Barbara Leshin-Zucker, IBCLC
22 Cindy Lane
Highland Mills, NY 10930
845-928-6906 (home)
845-551-7527 (Cell)*

Aim with your heart, adjust with your head, and always, always, always, do
all you can.

             ***********************************************

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